The Gold Flame
by S-Drama-Queen-17
Summary: Based on OCs, but the original characters come into play in later chapters. Brian Cochran is going on a ship to fulfill his utmost dreams, and Elanor Dayton is going after him. Join them on their adventure through high seas and troubled times.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Welcome to my first ever PotC fanfic! It has been a lot of work so far (I'm on chapter 15 right now) so it's going great. This is my first fanfic I'm putting up on fanfiction.net. Jack, Will, and others will come into the story later on, chapter 4 or some whereabouts. Please R/R, I'll be eternally grateful!  
  
~Chapter 1~  
  
It was a hot September day in the bustling port city of Brookvul. Ships were preparing to set sail. Sailors were setting their ships to sail. And one half-grown boy was slipping in and out of the docks, watching the ships in wonder.  
  
Brian Cochran was what most people of the time would have called a scamp: an orphan boy, both parents dead from some sort of disease only inflicting the poor, had escaped from the orphanage (although no one approved of his actions, most agreed that the streets were far more hospitable than that place), and lived on the generosity of strangers and his own cunning. And he was only fifteen years old.  
  
Brian gazed up at the ships, wishing he were on one, about to set off on a lovely adventure, full of pirates and stowaways, and plenty of mutinous sailors to throw in the brig. He'd become friends with the seadogs, for he had but one of his own. He'd find a lost treasure, some unfortunate corsair's booty, and then come back to Brookvul to set up a navigation school, and spend all his days living in the lap of luxury, with everything the gold and doubloons could buy.  
  
Brian looked up at a man's chest. He barely had time to blink before the man, moving at a dangerously rapid pace, knocked him over. He hit his head sharply on the ground.  
  
"Sorry, lad. Would you, by any chance, happen to know of a lad by the name of Brian Cochran?"  
  
Stars winking before his eyes, Brian nodded.  
  
"Aye," said a man following the first. "And where might he be?"  
  
"I'm him," Brian said thickly, getting to his feet.  
  
The first man's eyes lit up, as though he had found the treasure Brian had been fantasizing about. Only then did Brian realize his mistake. These could be robbers, plunderers, or murderers. He should have taken off as soon as the men had uttered his name.  
  
"We've found yeh," said the second man.  
  
Brian didn't hesitate. He sped away from the docks and down a dark street. The two men gave chase, following him down the dodgy road. "Lad, we don't want ter harm yeh!" the second man called after the agile boy.  
  
Down the dim streets and twisting alleys Brian ran and the two men pursued. Brian was just about to lose them when he found himself up against a brick wall.  
  
"S-stay away," he warned feebly as the two men advanced on him, a hungry look in their eyes.  
  
"Why, lad, we don't want to harm you," the first man said. He had a mass of brown, tangled hair that fell just beyond his shoulders.  
  
"Then what do you want with me?"  
  
"We hear you're an expert at all sorts of legends," the first man said.  
  
Brian nodded warily. "So, what's it to you?"  
  
"Aye, Captain, we've got ourselves a smart mouth here," the second man said.  
  
"Captain?" Brian repeated. "Captain of what?"  
  
"I'm forgetting my manners. I am Captain John Erif, of the Gold Flame."  
  
The Gold Flame? Brian had seen that ship before, at the harbor in the prime spot. It was twice as tall as some of the ships at Brookvul, and it was magnificently decorated. There was also a legend by the name of the Gold Flame, and Brian presumed that had something to do with it.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Captain Erif," Brian responded, shaking hands.  
  
"No, lad, call me John. And this is Tibbon Scagley, my first mate."  
  
"Scaggs, if ye please, Master Cochran," the man with scraggly gray hair said, bowing his head slightly.  
  
No one had ever called him Master Cochran before. It was mostly "Brian" or "that street lad." "All right, then, gents, what is it you want to know?"  
  
"Do you know of the legend of the Gold Flame?" the captain inquired.  
  
Brian's suspicions were proved correct. "Yes, I do."  
  
"Aye, lad, what'll ye be wantin' in return?" Scaggs asked.  
  
"Nothing that we can give, Tibbon," Captain Erif sighed. "Except.everything your heart desires, lad."  
  
Brian's breath caught in his throat. A seafaring adventure, maybe? Gold, diamonds, treasure? Or the.no, but no man could give him that.  
  
Captain Erif grinned, a gold tooth glinting in the dim sunlight of the alley. "The Gold Flame."  
  
"The-the Gold Flame?" Brian could barely contain his excitement.  
  
"Aye, lad, the Gold Flame. And a voyage to find it, to boot," Scaggs added in his husky whisper.  
  
"Tell us what you know of the legend of the Gold Flame, lad," the captain urged.  
  
Brian took a deep breath. "Well, it resides on Mirage Island, somewhere in the Caribbean. Mirage Island has only ever been sighted by one person, the infamous pirate Pegleg Pete, and he went mad. The Gold Flame turns anything put into it to gold. It is said to be guarded by-"  
  
"Yes, laddie, we get the picture," John said. "The scullery maid at the Dayton house was right in saying you know legends forwards and backwards, sideways and-well, you get the picture."  
  
"What else do I need to do?" Brian inquired.  
  
"You'll need to accompany us on a voyage to Mirage Island. We know, it's never been seen, but I possess a map that'll lead us right there."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes, really. I assumed you have little or no possessions. True?"  
  
"Yessir."  
  
"John, call me John. Then we'll set sail tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, thank you, sir-John!"  
  
"Come on, boy, you'll sleep on the ship tonight."  
  
"Follow us, lad," Scaggs said merrily.  
  
"Now? Wait-can I say farewell to someone?"  
  
"All right, then, lad, but hurry up. You'll need to familiarize yourself with the ship," said John.  
  
Brian nodded and hurried off. He had to tell Elanor.  
  
Elanor Dayton sat in her bedroom, stroking her cat, Augusta. The silver- furred creature purred contentedly up at its mistress, but she was distracted. Brian usually visited at this time of day, and she quite enjoyed talking with him, even if it was only from her window balcony.  
  
Her father was meeting with some important people for very business-like matters, and Diane, the scullery maid, was downstairs helping Cook with dinner. Diane was her only friend (besides Augusta) in the manor, and Brian the only one outside of it. She sighed, wishing for him to hurry.  
  
"Elanor! Hello, Elanor!"  
  
She dashed to the window. "Hello, Brian!"  
  
"Elanor, I can't stay long. I'm going on a ship."  
  
"Don't get yourself caught, now, Brian."  
  
He stared up at her for a moment, and then he laughed. "I'm not stowing away; I'm going on a voyage!"  
  
"Really? To where? And with whom?"  
  
"To Mirage Island, with Captain John Erif and Tibbon Scagley, on the Gold Flame ship, to find its namesake."  
  
"Brian Cochran, are you fooling with me?" Elanor scolded.  
  
"No, Elanor, I'm dead serious! I just wanted to tell you so you'd know where I am until our return. Goodbye, Elanor." He looked up at her. "Say bye to Augusta and Diane for me. It was her what got me the place on board, you know."  
  
She didn't answer.  
  
"Bye, then."  
  
"G-goodbye, Brian."  
  
He waved jovially up at her and then sped off down the cobblestone streets, leaving Elanor to soak in what she had just heard. And she realized something.  
  
It had been true from the moment they had met in the market, the reason she so looked forward to their midday meetings. She hadn't seen it for five years, since she was ten and he was eleven.  
  
She loved him.  
  
It is a scary, surprising thing to realize that you love someone at fourteen. But the mere threat of his absence had brought that emotion (was emotion the word?) to the surface. She didn't think too far in the future, like getting married or anything, she just realized that she could not bear to have Brian leave.  
  
"Miss Elanor?" came a voice from her door. It was Diane.  
  
"Diane," Elanor thundered, striding over to the maid and taking hold of her shoulders, "tell me you had nothing to do with Brian Cochran's sudden and quite unexpected departure."  
  
"Sorry, Miss, but I'm afraid I did. The owner of that splendid ship, the Gold Flame, came around asking for a teller of legendary tales, and I immediately mentioned Master Brian. The tales he's told you when he's down on the street, with you up on your balcony-"  
  
"Diane!" Elanor shrieked. She sat back in her chair and began to sob.  
  
"Why, whatever is the matter, Elanor?" the unfortunate scullery maid questioned, quite bewildered.  
  
"Luffim," Elanor mumbled through the cascade of tears.  
  
"Pardon me?"  
  
"I LOVE HIM!" Elanor roared. "And he'll be gone an eternity, and you know how dreadfully dangerous these sea ventures can be! He might get himself killed and never come back!" And dissolved into tears again.  
  
"There's no point in crying about it, Elanor," Diane soothed in vain. "It's not like you can go with him."  
  
Elanor's sobs halted. "G-go with him?"  
  
"N-now, Elanor, you know they won't let you-"  
  
"They don't need to know, Diane! I'll stow away on that ship!"  
  
"You said it yourself, those ocean trips are terribly dangerous. What if you came to some harm? And what of your father?"  
  
"I don't care about physical pain on his behalf, Diane. And I'll leave Father a note. Now, pretend you know nothing of my expedition or you'll lose your position. Oh, and Diane? Be sure to take care of Augusta for me."  
  
"You're serious about this, aren't you?" Diane said disbelievingly.  
  
"Absolutely. No, I must pack and go. Farewell, Diane."  
  
"F-farewell, Elanor."  
  
The two embraced each other like sisters. Then Diane gave Elanor a faint smile and left the room. 


	2. Chapter 2

~Chapter 2~  
  
An hour later, Elanor had dressed in her worst clothes and was heading toward the harbor. She had seen the Gold Flame from her balcony, and knew her way toward it by heart.  
  
Anyone watching her would have seen an obviously rich girl (even her worst clothes weren't at all bad) talk to a passerby on the dock, hand them something, and talk with the Gold Flame's guard. In face, Elanor was playing the part of an innocent onlooker wanting to see the deck of the ship. He seemed reluctant until she gave him a gold guinea, and then all hesitancy vanished. She boarded, looking about in wonder, and she made sure to cast a glance at the guard. Yes, there was the commoner she had paid. He was asking the guard to lead him to the nearest tavern. She had told him to also tell the guard that he had seen her leaving the ship. No one would know where she was.  
  
A man approached where she was hiding. She dove out of that place behind a different crate. She sighed in relief as the man picked up the previous crate and walked away.  
  
Elanor crept all the way to a door which she knew must lead to below-deck, and she entered. She would find a place to stay and keep watch for Brian.  
  
Speaking of which.  
  
Brian was on deck, exploring the ship he would soon go exploring on. It was large and luxurious, not like some of the ships that managed to float into the Brookvul harbors. Brian had no idea how some of those stayed afloat, with holes in the bottom and in the sails, that looked more like cobwebs than anything else. But this ship was the definition of luxury on the sea.  
  
"Here, lad, here's the passage to yer chambers, where yeh'll be sleepin'," said Scaggs, leading the boy further on.  
  
"You mean I get my own place to stay?" Brian asked. He hadn't slept in a room or a bed since before his mother died, when he was three.  
  
"Tha's right. Now, come, I 'spect the cap'n'll have summat ter tell yeh before tomorrow's departure."  
  
Scaggs led Brian to the captain's quarters. On the way, Brian glanced around at everything around him. "Every boy's dream," he breathed, taking it all in. Most of the crew tipped their hats amiably to him, or grinned with yellowed teeth. One group, though, cast him a surly scowl and turned back to whatever they were doing, which looked like playing cards.  
  
"Who're they?" Brian asked Scaggs, who had pointedly avoiding the glares directed at him from the group.  
  
"Aye, lad, yeh don't want to know," Scaggs answered. "Them's the troublemakers on board. Rumor has it that they were once part of a pirate crew, but the cap'n don't believe such talk, so neither do I."  
  
"But what do you really make of it?" Brian asked. "You've got to have your own opinion of them, don't you?"  
  
"I wasn't hired to think, lad, and you weren't neither, so best to keep yer mouth shut and yer eyes peeled," Scaggs said. It was clear that he wished the conversation to end. Brian stayed silent for the rest of the path to Captain Erif's chamber.  
  
"Lad, come in, sit down, have a look see at our library! My favorite place on the ship, besides behind the wheel," said John when Brian entered. "Scaggs, man, take a breather in your quarters, if you will. I've got business to discuss with young Master Cochran."  
  
Scaggs nodded and left. Captain Erif turned to Brian. "Brian, I assume you're wondering exactly what we want you to do on this voyage, are you?" Brian contemplated this for a moment, and then he nodded. "Well, then, I'm here to tell you. We're going on this journey, and we're going to encounter a lot you never thought really existed. Legends, fairy tales, all of it. I was never so read up on the tales myself, so I needed an expert. And what better expert than a boy of the streets, who knows every tale underground as well as above? I admit, I didn't know exactly where to look, but someone told me to have at it, wherever I met people. So I met a maid, down at the market. Her name was Diane. Pretty little thing, too, and knows her place, and rightly so. She said her mistress knew a fellow by the name of Brian Cochran, who could spin tales like the girl in the tale of Rumpelstiltskin had him spin gold. Probably some of them you made up yourself, but that really wasn't any of my concern. So I asked the scullery maid where she worked, and she said at the Dayton house. Now, I know the young wench's master of old, lad, and I'd met his daughter before, too-"  
  
"You've met Elanor?" said Brian.  
  
"Oh, yes, it slipped my mind that you knew her. She looked, on the outside, the most prim and proper young lady who knew her place as well, on the tip of the social pyramid. But on the inside, she is as fun loving as you or me. And she has the biggest heart of all. She helped me out of a tight spot on my visit some years back when it looked to one of the maids that I'd stolen one of her father's golden candlesticks. That debt still is yet to be repaid. If I couldn't find anyone to tell me about anybody with tales in the market, I was planning to go to her house next. So I thought to myself, I did, 'If young Elanor's taken a liking to him, then I'll bet he's the best lad for the trip I'll ever meet.' Then I asked the maid where to find you, and she said either at their house, midday, under Elanor's window, or near the docks, because you were consumed with awe when it came to ships. I knew you must have seen mine, because it's not exactly hard to spot, is it?" He chuckled. "So I found you. But I still haven't explained what that has to do with the job, now, have I? I'm sorry, I owe you an apology, Brian, my lad; I get off topic sometimes. With so many things to think about, it's no wonder. I need you to tell us the legends as we meet them. I need you to be our information retriever. And at the end, you'll have an equal share in that flame as any of the crew, Scaggs, or myself. Now, lad, since you probably know more tales than is contained in any of these books," (he motioned around at the shelves upon shelves of bound pages) "tell me a tale. A grand adventure tale, about good against pirates."  
  
Brian racked his brains for such a tale, but none came. "Er-any specific requests?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"Let me think. Ah, yes, how about Captain Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, Will Turner, and the Black Pearl? That's one of my favorites. And Miss Elizabeth Swann plays a part in that too, if I remember correctly."  
  
Brian seized the opportunity and was off on a tale-spinning expedition about the madman and his unfortunate simple assistant who hated pirates, only to discover that his father had been one. Will really was Brian's favorite character in the story. He got the girl and everything, even got to wear a big hat in the story's finale.  
  
"And so, Will and Elizabeth were married, and Jack became captain of the Black Pearl again, with Gibbs and Ana Maria as co-first mates, I believe. People say it isn't true, but they say Will Turner is a real person and he testifies to the truth of it all. Sometimes I close my eyes and wish I were there, fighting Barbossa and the pirates with Will and Jack. Too much to dream, though, right, Captain?"  
  
"Not at all, Master Cochran. Hope big, dream big, plan big, win big; that's my motto. Never one for deferred dreams, I was. Always carried through with my plans, except the one with Miss Alexandra Harmon. That one went awry from the beginning, it did."  
  
"Will you tell me what happened? If you don't mind my asking, of course, Captain."  
  
"Not at all, lad. She was the most beautiful lass in the world, was Alexandra. I planned to woo her, like every boy at the age of nineteen hopes to do to the girl of his dreams. Then, before I could put my plan into action." He sighed deeply, with the air of a man recounting a theft against him. "She was gone."  
  
"What happened to her?"  
  
"Pirates. Bloody pirates, every single one. That's why the tale of the Black Pearl never was my favorite tale. They kidnapped my Alexandra. Pirates can never be on the right side of things, can they? If Elizabeth thinks Will is a pirate at heart, so be it, but he doesn't seem like one to me. As for Jack Sparrow, I'm glad he got his ship back, but I don't think he deserved to live if piracy was his course of action. Taken out of her bed in the middle of the night, she was. Not so much as a peep out of her, according to the guard at her door. She was a well-to-do lady just like Elizabeth, and just like our friend Elanor, and she was important enough to merit a guard every night. But they never thought one of those bloody pirates would scale the wall and climb through her window. I never saw her again."  
  
"I'm sorry, Captain," said Brian after a moment. "I see why you dislike pirates. But not all pirates are bad. I, for one, think Jack and Will were pirates and good men, like Will says about Jack. But it's your opinion."  
  
There was silence for a few minutes, as each contemplated everything that was on his mind. Then John Erif roused himself from the reverie he had gotten into about Alexandra and sat upright. "Well, lad, I told you what we'll need you for, didn't I? And this library, you can be in here whenever you like. You can read, can't you?"  
  
"Yessir. I snuck into a rich boys' school one week and left after I figured out how."  
  
"That's my lad. You can read any of the magnificent books I've provided for the voyage. It can be quite dull at times. But after that there's always some adventure, looming on the horizon, just waiting for us. I think someday, I'll sail to that horizon and find Alexandra waiting for me there, and then I'll have died and gone to heaven, lad. You got a girl you fancy?"  
  
Brian hesitated slightly, and then he said, "No."  
  
"I thought maybe.but I guess you don't meet many female scamps such as yourself." The captain stood and stretched. "I'll be heading out now. Continue your observations tonight, because tomorrow we set sail, and if you're a landlubber, as those stinking pirates put it, you won't be feeling well at all once we're out on the ocean." Captain Erif patted Brian on the back and walked out.  
  
Brian now had his chance to pay full attention to the library. It was incredible, just as the captain had told him. Incredible and full of the sort of tales Brian thrived on. He opened the first book he got his hands on to find a recounting of the exact same story he had just told the captain. "Proves how good you are, mate," said a voice from behind him.  
  
Brian turned to see a thin, scrawny-looking boy enter the chamber. "Have you been listening to me and the captain this whole time?" Brian asked him.  
  
"Well, not the whole time, but most of it, yeah. Cap'n never mentioned what sort of fairy-tale creatures you'd be encounterin', did he?"  
  
"The Gold Flame," Brian answered uncertainly.  
  
"Well, of course he said that one, mate, it's the name of the ship," said the boy with a maddening air of authority.  
  
"Who are you?" Brian asked warily. Maybe he was an onlooker who just happened to be passing by and decided to get on and take a look at the beautiful ship.  
  
"I'm Thomas. I clean floors. Don't mind me. I'm a good-for-nothing scamp." He said the last word with strong emphasis. Brian knew he was referring to the fact that the captain had picked him to practically navigate off the streets. He willed his hands not to clench into fists. "My father's part of the crew," said Thomas. His eyes seemed to be asking, "And where's your father? Drunk or dead, I expect." And the fact that he was right, even if it was just in his eyes, made it worse for Brian.  
  
"What's his specialty? Does he clean floors with you?"  
  
"Nah. Mostly he plays cards."  
  
This gave Brian a thought. "He isn't sitting almost right outside this door, is he?"  
  
"He is that. Playin' with his friends. Not too happy with the captain at the moment. He made them scrub the galley this morning, and it was rough on their hands."  
  
Brian thought swiftly that that was the job they had been hired to do, but he forced that back down. "Can you read?" he asked.  
  
"Read? Nah, what's the use? I don't see meself ever needin' to read a word for anyone or anybody. I clean floors. I'll be workin' on this bloody ship for as long as I live."  
  
"After this no one's going to need to work, Tom. The captain said we'd all be rich."  
  
"Aye, but I'm not thinkin' we're goin' to live that long. I know a fair few legends meself, you know, and I know that the Gold Flame is guarded by the plants of the ground, and the birds of the air, and some great monsters no one seems to be too keen to mention. They'll kill us all before we so much as see the legendary thing. Who knows if it exists, anyway?"  
  
Brian once again felt the fury welling up inside of him. "I do. It's out there. We're going to find it. If you don't believe in this quest, then why are you on this ship?"  
  
Thomas smirked and rolled his eyes, even though Brian was much bigger than he was and could have beaten him up. "Even if I could tell you, I wouldn't do it, Cochran. Master Cochran. Have a nice sail on your sailboat, because it won't be on the seas much longer, now, will it?" And he strode out of the chamber just as the captain had, leaving Brian very upset about the whole ordeal, and wondering what Thomas's words had meant. 


	3. Chapter 3

~Chapter 3~  
  
Elanor had been in the same spot for five hours. Her legs were cramped and itchy, and her hair was a mess. She was sweating buckets, and she had three holes in her dress. The moon was out now, and Elanor wanted to go see Brian. But he had gone into a door and never come out. She would have to wait and follow him.  
  
After another hour, he emerged carrying a book and whistling. It sounded like a pirate song. Elanor groaned and waited for him to pass by her hiding place. "Brian!" she hissed. He looked around, searching for the source of the noise. She groaned again, grabbed his wrist, and tugged him down next to her.  
  
"Elanor!" he cried in surprise. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Shh!" she shushed him. "They'll hear you." Elanor motioned to the crew, still hard at work in the moonlight.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Brian repeated in a lower voice.  
  
For a moment, Elanor considered telling him what she had told Diane earlier, but she decided against it. Instead, she said, "You're not the only one who can go on adventures, you know, Brian."  
  
"But you can't be on here. A ship isn't any place for a lady. Look at you; you don't look anything like you do when you're up in your room when we're talking. You could get hurt."  
  
"I know the captain. He owes me a favor."  
  
"I know that, but how big of a favor? Surely not one this size. What exactly is running through your head right now? Were you jealous or something?"  
  
"Ehm.sort of. But no one can know I'm here except you and maybe Captain John."  
  
"Even he wouldn't allow this, Elanor. Get off while you can. We don't sail until tomorrow, so you can go now and be rid of the hardships of being a sailor or a stowaway on a journey like this."  
  
Elanor bristled. This conversation was not going anything like she had planned. "Are you saying girls can't take the hardships of sailing or stowing away?"  
  
"Now that you mention it, yes, that is what I'm saying. Please get off, Elanor, I'm thinking of you. Your father will be terribly worried, and what of Diane and Augusta?"  
  
"Diane knows and Augusta will just have to deal with it."  
  
"We could be gone a year or so. Do you really want to be away from your family that long? Do you think they want to be rid of you that long, and maybe forever? From what someone I met said, he thinks we're never coming back."  
  
Elanor hadn't thought of this. Nevertheless, she straightened up as much as she could crushed between the edge of the ship and a barrel. "I'm going, Brian. Help me find a place to stay, please?"  
  
"You should have thought of that before."  
  
"Brian!"  
  
"All right, all right. Come with me to my chambers."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The first mate, Scaggs-"  
  
"Scaggs? What sort of a name is that?"  
  
"It's short for Scagley. Tibbon Scagley. He told me that every chamber has secret passageways. We can explore mine and find where one leads. Maybe it'll lead to an empty chamber. Sound good to you?"  
  
Elanor pursed her lips. "Fine. Now we have the matter of finding how to get past all these uncouth seadogs without letting them know I'm a girl."  
  
Brian looked at her. "You should have thought of that before stowing away on this cursed ship."  
  
"What's the matter with it?"  
  
"Nothing, just some of the crew isn't as nice as they could be, and I met someone who also isn't as nice as he might be. You know, the one who I said told me that we'd all die."  
  
"Sounds like he has a negative outlook on this quest you're going on. Any ideas to get into your cabin?"  
  
"I can stroll on in my cabin. I'm Isupposed/I to be here."  
  
She pursed her lips at him again. "Fine," he said. "I have an idea, but you won't like the sound of it much at all."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"That was bloody awful," Elanor complained, once in Brian's quarters. "You rolled the barrel to your room. Do you think anybody will believe that?"  
  
"They'd think less of that than if I guided you to my room and let them see it. I rolled the barrel so you could crawl along behind it. Besides, I saw Thomas, and if he would have seen you, you'd probably be thrown overboard."  
  
"That's who you met earlier?"  
  
Brian nodded. "Now for that secret passage. Tap on the walls and see if you hear any hollow parts."  
  
Elanor obeyed grudgingly. The two of them went to either sides of the room, tapping on the walls, listening for any difference in the echoes. Brian finally found a patch on the wall that sounded like nothing was behind it. The only problem was that it was way up high, so Brian could barely reach it and Elanor couldn't at all. Brian stood on top of a cupboard to get to it. It had tiny, almost invisible hinges that creaked when he swung open the door to reveal a passage just large enough for a human being to crawl through. "In you go, then," he said, balancing on the cupboard.  
  
"I can't reach," she complained.  
  
"Climb up here," he told her. "You can do that, can't you?"  
  
"I doubt it. I'll make a fool of myself."  
  
"Elanor!" he cried in exasperation. "Who is in here to make a fool of yourself in front of? You can't make a fool of yourself unless someone important is watching."  
  
Elanor took all the courage she possessed and climbed up beside Brian. "It's dreadfully high," she said, looking at the ground.  
  
"The trick is to not look down. Just like with seasickness, you never look at the water. Go on, get in. I'll follow."  
  
"We'll need a better way to get through here later," she said, sticking her head in the hole.  
  
"But for now this works. Up you go." Brian lifted Elanor's feet into the tunnel, and then he lifted himself in behind her. "Move, you're not going to be sleeping in this part of it, are you? It's all dusty."  
  
Elanor began to crawl, achieving another rip in her already tattered dress. "How far does this thing go?" she hissed over her shoulder at Brian.  
  
"I don't know, Elanor, just keep going!"  
  
"Shouldn't you go ahead of me? Make sure nothing dangerous is on the other side, you know?"  
  
"There's no way I'm going to be able to get ahead of you. If you haven't noticed, this tunnel's barely thick enough for you alone to fit in, and I can't go over you. So just keep it moving, all right?"  
  
They went another few yards before Elanor backed up into Brian. "Ouch, what are you doing?"  
  
Elanor seemed frozen. Her mouth looked like it was trying to say something but it wouldn't move anywhere.  
  
"What is it, Elanor? Is something wrong?"  
  
"S-s-s-s-s-s-spiders," she stammered, backing up further.  
  
"What of it? They're spiders. Just as long as they don't have red spots on the top of them, they're fine. Keep moving."  
  
"B-but I don't like s-spiders. They're icky and nasty and they have eight legs."  
  
"Just go, they won't notice you."  
  
Elanor attempted to go past without touching a spider at all, but that failed when she squashed one with her knee. She screamed loudly, trying to rub the poor spider carcass off her dress. Brian caught her by the shoulders and put a hand over her mouth. "Quiet," he growled in a low tone. "Someone will hear us."  
  
She struggled to get his dust-covered hand off her mouth. He finally let her go when he had guided her across the spiders' path, and she spit against the side of the wall. "Better than eating spiders, though, isn't it?" he said.  
  
She stayed silent and crawled on. She had expected him to be overjoyed to see her, and be caring about her, but instead all they could do was bicker. Maybe she didn't know him well enough to love him. He had seemed so different at her window. And on top of all that, if she left, he'd think she was a cowardly girl, so she couldn't. And then there were the spiders, which she absolutely detested. The best spider was a dead spider, and even then they weren't so lovable. She continued along the dirty tunnel, which she noticed smelled of rotten fish.  
  
After some yards more, the tunnel opened out into a room. An empty room that no one knew about, by the looks of it. "All right, do you wish to stay here?" said Brian. "I know there's no bed, but the floor doesn't look all that bad."  
  
"Bad? It's covered in dust, and I'll bet there will be spiders come nightfall."  
  
"It is nightfall, Elanor. That's what it's called when it's all dark like this."  
  
"You know what I mean! If you're not going to provide any further assistance, then you may leave. I guess this'll have to do."  
  
"Well, beggars can't be choosers. Stowaways either." Brian pulled himself back into the tunnel and started his long trek back to his room.  
  
Elanor sat on the floor, in the absence of a bed. Things definitely weren't going the way she had planned. She lay down on her back and it popped, hurting but at the same time feeling good. She had been cramped and in odd spaces for the past five and a half hours, and it was nice to finally have some room. She was beginning to doze off when she heard a creak. For the second time that day, a hand clamped over her mouth. "Quiet, there, missy, I wouldn' want Brian to be gettin' worried about yeh. Follow me." 


	4. Chapter 4

~Chapter 4~  
  
Brian had hurried back to his chambers to contemplate things. Why had Elanor come? Didn't she know that all the legends said that it was bad luck to have a lady on board? But then he remembered the tale of the Black Pearl, when Jack Sparrow had said, "It'll be far worse not to." Maybe it was a good thing to have her aboard ship, but it soon wouldn't be if anyone discovered her. IShe shouldn't have come,/I he thought to himself, covering himself with the thin sheets that were on his bed. It was a hot night, and the sweat was already beading down his forehead. Soon it would be in buckets.  
  
To distract himself from thinking about Elanor, he thought about other things, mainly Thomas. How had Captain Erif come to hire such a mean- spirited lad? There had to be better ones out there.  
  
Brian rolled over in bed, yawned, and drifted into a deep sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Elanor struggled against the man's grip, but it was no use. His hands were clamped together like metal. "Now, lass, don' you struggle, the cap'n won' be likin' that. Woss yer name?"  
  
"Like I'd tell you," she spat around his hand.  
  
"Askin' were just a formality. I know yer name; it's Elanor Dayton, correct?"  
  
Elanor nodded reluctantly.  
  
"Aye, see, lass? Now, come this way in the other passage, and I'll take yeh to the cap'n."  
  
"Who're you?" she asked as the man opened the door to yet another secret passageway into the room, a corridor-sized one this time. "I mean, you've got to have a name."  
  
He looked around at her, one eye slightly bulging. "Tibbon Scagley. First mate of the Gold Flame, the ship yeh attempted to stow away on. But you can call me Scaggs while yer here. That won' be long, o' course. Ladies first." He allowed Elanor to enter the tunnel, and she thought with mild dismay that this was the second time she was willingly (well, almost willingly) going in a dusty, dirty, mud-caked secret passageway this day, and there were sure to be more spiders just waiting for her to come.  
  
"There aren't.spiders, are there?" she asked Scaggs, who had to stoop to get into the tunnel.  
  
"Nah, this one's been used a lot. Cap'n Erif always wants to sneak away, and that's his quiet room. No girl is going to change that. Move along, now."  
  
The end of the tunnel, not far ahead, dropped off suddenly, and Elanor fell a few feet onto the wooden floor, looking at the shoes of the captain. "Elanor Dayton," the captain said. "So we meet again."  
  
"Don't throw me overboard," was the first thing out of Elanor's mouth. The captain stopped for a minute and then he laughed.  
  
"We don't want to harm you, lass, we want you to be safe. Which means putting you back in your house. Your father's sent around a notice of a reward for information concerning your whereabouts, you know. We'd be ignoring our civic duty if we let you stay on."  
  
"You owe me. You would have been hanged for a thief had I not vouched for you, Captain John. I must go on this venture, or I'll never live with myself ever again."  
  
"I owe you nothing more than a ride back to your manor, young missy. You won't be coming on my ship if I have anything to do with the matter."  
  
"He thinks you a pirate."  
  
These words stung John Erif's pride something awful. "He does, does he? Then I'll drop you off at the corner of your street and you can walk from there. Never mind the reward, I'll go without. But you can't go without the necessities of people higher on the social pyramid than rough, crude sailors such as myself and my crew."  
  
"Aye," Scaggs said from the corner.  
  
"I can and I will," Elanor said defiantly.  
  
"I know what you're up to, lass. I can read your eyes like an open book, like any we have in this fine library." And indeed, they were in the room Brian and the captain had talked in earlier. "You fancy the boy, my teller of tales, as it were, don't you? Don't tell me I'm wrong, because I know I'm not."  
  
Elanor bit the inside of her cheek, like she did when she was nervous.  
  
"Aye, see, I'm correct. Brian himself told me that he had no special girl in mind, nor ever had, so I wouldn't be wasting my time if I were you. Let me pick an escort-"  
  
"No. You're wrong. I want to go on an adventure, just like Brian is, and just like you are. Who hasn't heard of the Gold Flame? And in Brookvul, that's the ship and the tale. You do owe me, Captain, and you can't forget that."  
  
Captain John Erif sighed and rubbed his temple. Girls, especially the young kind, could be so tiresome. No, he mustn't think that; that generalization included his Alexandra too. Finally, he said, "I'll tell you what, lass. You can stay. On the condition that I tell Brian you left."  
  
Her eyes widened and her face fell. "Why?" she said.  
  
"Why not? It's not as if you care for him. I was so mistaken; I'm sorry, Miss Dayton. So why shouldn't I tell Brian you've come to your senses and gone home? You'll still get what you're here for: an adventure and the Gold Flame. And by all means, you can't let my storyteller see you, unless under very special circumstances. Do we have an accord?"  
  
Elanor hesitated. The whole purpose of this mad expedition was not to be away from Brian. But she wouldn't be away from him; he just wouldn't know she was there. But that wouldn't be the same. Thoughts wrestled in and out of her brain, trying to scramble themselves into some semblance of order. "All right, Captain, you tell Brian I left, and I stay on. It's a deal." And they shook hands on it, even though his were twice the size of hers. "Where shall I stay?"  
  
"Aye, lass, you should have thought of that before," said the captain, sounding like Brian. "But seriously, you can have that chamber. I'll use the library for my quiet place. I have a spare cot you can use, and some extra food you can have. Honestly, lass, I don't know why you can't just leave. Trying to behave yourself in that house of yours, that's an adventure in and of itself."  
  
"I'll sleep on the floor tonight, sir. Thank you." Elanor turned and stepped up back into the tunnel to her new cabin.  
  
"Cap'n, d'yeh know what yeh just did? A girl on board, it's bad luck, it is. Couldn' we just take 'er back to 'er house and leave 'er there? I'm sure her father wouldn' mind a bit."  
  
"No, Scaggs, I'm not completely sure what I just did. But I'm not going to separate a young lass from her object of affection." He stood there, glancing out the porthole, thinking how hard it had been to be separated from his Alexandra. Scaggs stood on, watching, until he was sure the captain had ended their conversation. Then he hastened out, leaving the captain to his own thoughts.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The first thing next morning, Brian stretched and went outside for some fresh air. He thought vaguely that he ought to go see how Elanor was doing, and he began to go back into his cabin. "No, wait, lad," said the captain, catching him by the shoulder. "You're going to look for your friend Elanor, aren't you?"  
  
"How did you know?" Brian said in disbelief.  
  
"How do I know? Lad, this is my ship, I know every nook and cranny of it. I use that secret chamber as my own sometimes. So last night I went in and found that lass sleeping on the floor of my cabin. Why do you look so surprised, boy? There is more than one way into that room. I had her thrown off."  
  
"Thrown off?" Brian said. "Not-not that way?" He gestured to the open sea on one side of the ship.  
  
"I didn't have her thrown overboard if that's what you mean. I had her escorted back to her house. They remember me, so I couldn't do it myself. Scaggs and Twigs took her, didn't you?"  
  
A stick-thin man who was passing by said, "Aye, Cap'n, we did. It's a right lovely house, it is."  
  
"Brian, this is Twigs, an old friend. Here's here on a favor to his father, another old friend. Twigs, this is Brian, our legend expert."  
  
"Nice to meet yeh," said Twigs, extending a grime-encrusted hand. Brian shook it, all the while thinking that Twigs had the same build as the boy Thomas he had met earlier, but in actuality looked nothing like him. Thomas had been pale and blonde; this man was heavily tanned and dark-haired. "I hope yeh'll like the ship. Some boys don't take much to it." He jerked his head in the direction of Thomas, who had just appeared from below. He was carrying a pile of rags with the scowl that seemed to always be present on his face. "I just hope yeh'll like it more than that one."  
  
"Twigs doesn't think too highly of my cabin boy, do you, Twigs?" Captain Erif asked the man. Twigs grumbled and shrugged. "I must admit, he's not the best you'll ever find, but he can be a hard worker when he puts his mind to it. Speaking of which, we all need to be hard workers at this time. We set sail in half an hour. Brian, go ask Scaggs what needs to be done on board and help him do it."  
  
Brian sped off, all the while wondering where Elanor was at this exact moment, and if her father had gotten mad. Sir Dayton, the head of the Dayton household, had never held with ships of any kind, especially if they were manned by men he believed to be pirates. Elanor was probably not allowed to leave her room, let alone the house. She probably wouldn't have seen daylight at all by the time he returned. He wondered what a balcony felt like when you weren't looking down, but when you were looking up at the sky and there was a slight breeze blowing on your face, and your hair ruffles in it. Then he realized that he could feel that sensation once the Gold Flame set to sea.  
  
"Scaggs!" he called, searching for the first mate. "Scaggs, where are you?"  
  
"Over here, lad. I'm just workin' on this sail. She needs to be darned."  
  
"Let me help. I want to work for my part of the Flame," Brian offered. Scaggs could offer no rebuttal against this, so Brian set to work on the sail. Within minutes, it was patched up, good as new.  
  
"Thank'ee, lad, yer a natural at darnin'. Where'd yeh learn it?"  
  
"Must've picked it up somewhere on the streets. I don't remember ever learning it, but I know how to do it."  
  
"Yer one smart lad, yeh know that, Brian? Yeh'll fit in around here if yer useful. 'Cept for with those that don' do nothin' but sit around all day and play cards. Yeh know, the ones yeh asked me about before."  
  
"Yes, I remember them."  
  
"Well, this mornin' I told 'em that this ship better be in ship shape by this time today, and look! The floors are growin' stuff, I believe. And that good-for-nothin' boy Thomas, all he does is grumble about havin' to work. What does he think he was brought on fer? Ter have a picnic? Well, I don' think so. No one gets by on this ship without pitchin' in a bit, accordin' ter the cap'n. Yeh want ter help me darn the other sails, lad?"  
  
"Absolutely. That's what I'm here for, isn't it?"  
  
"Nay, lad, yer here to tell us where to find this Mirage Island place. Yeh'll make us all rich, yeh will. I, for one, was all for havin' yeh along with us, but some of the crew weren' too keen on havin' a young lad, and a rumored scamp at that, come with us, but Cap'n John said yes, we'll be needin' yeh. And here yeh are! I have a whole pile of those bloody sails that need to be mended."  
  
After fifteen minutes at work, Brian had repaired all of the damaged sails and they were ready to hang up. "You there! You five! Get over 'ere, yeh need ter help us with these sails. Yes, you. You don' come over an' I'll notify the cap'n that all you wastrels do is play cards over there on that barrel," Scaggs threatened. Brian felt a thrill of trepidation as the five surly men that Scaggs had warned him against lumbered over to them. He gave the nearest a weak grin. The man merely growled at him, and Brian quickly looked ahead again. These weren't men to cross paths with.  
  
"Everybody got a side or a corner?" Scaggs asked. "Good. Now, Brian, hook that side, and I'll hook this side, and Iheave!"/I He tugged on the rope, and Brian quickly went to help him. The other five let go of the sail, now that it had been hooked, and watched the two struggle on their own. "Get over 'ere!" Scaggs yelled, almost knocking Brian backwards. "You scalawags better pull yer wait on this trip, or the cap'n won' never give yeh a share of the Flame. Yeah, that's right, I'd thought yeh'd see it that way." With all seven of them pulling at it, they managed to hoist the sail up to the top of the mast. "Quick, now, boy, we set sail in ten minutes. That'll be hard to do if we don' have sails."  
  
When they finished, Captain Erif approached. "Good work, lad, you're a good worker. You'll be valuable on this quest in more ways than one. We're pulling out!" he yelled to the rest of the crew, most of who hailed him with a chorus of "Huzzah!"  
  
"Thank you, Captain," said Brian. "I'm just glad to be aboard, you know. I still can't believe it. I finally get to see all my dreams come true. Except-"  
  
"Except you wish Miss Elanor Dayton was still on board with us?"  
  
Brian cocked his head at the captain, eyebrow raised. "What makes you say that, Captain? And I say that respectfully, sir."  
  
"No need to be respectful much, Brian. We're all comrades here. And I don't know how that came out of my mouth, lad. It works apart from my brain, see? Hoist anchor!" he yelled to some men standing idly nearby, who immediately began heaving a rope. When the anchor was sitting on the deck, two men unfurled the sails, which caught the wind and set them off on their journey, Captain Erif at the helm. 


	5. Chapter 5

~Chapter 5~  
  
Elanor stayed in the secret room all day. Maybe that was for the better. Even though she was holed up in the drab cabin that smelled suspiciously of cobwebs, she could tell when the ship set sail. It was when her stomach flopped and she nearly lost her stomach. Without a bag or a deck to lean over, she deposited all her insides in a corner, hoping the ship wouldn't rock too much and cause it to drip to the middle of the floor where she slept. She had never had to live in such vile conditions, and it didn't suit her any better that Brian was not allowed to see her. The captain, however, had not said that she could not see him. So every night, when the moon was high in the sky, she took a breather of sea air, which nauseated her further but was nevertheless better than cabin air. Then she crept back into her room and snaked through the tunnel between her and Brian's rooms and watched him sleep. She got along with him just fine when he wasn't saying anything. Maybe she had been mistaken to be on this wretched, rocking ship. He didn't like her at all; he just wanted a chance to tell her his tales of old. But it was too late now. These nighttime sprees continued for three nights, until she became so indisposed with seasickness that the captain, who had sent Scaggs to check up on her, assigned one of the cabin boys to take her meals and make sure she was all right.  
  
The first time he came in, she was lying in her newly acquired cot, willing her throat to close up and not let anything out. "Miss?" the boy said lazily. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Fine," she groaned sardonically. Then the boy looked upon her and rubbed his eyes. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. How had an angel such as her landed on the ship he was forced to slave away on? Was this fate knocking at his door?  
  
She looked up at him, and he gave a half-smile that was quite a feat for him. "What's your name?" she asked weakly, clutching the edge of the cot. She felt another retch coming on.  
  
"Thomas," he answered.  
  
She started, recognizing the name that Brian had given her, and struggled to sit up. "Thomas, is it?"  
  
"Yes, lass. You'll be needin' anythin'?"  
  
"Just take some of these blankets away, will you? It gets unbearably hot in here at night. Really, all day, it does."  
  
"I don' get that hot. You think yer feverish?" He touched his hand to her forehead. It felt like someone had put ice on it to her. His hand was rough like a man's bristly chin, and he withdrew it quickly. "Yer burnin' up!"  
  
"No, I'll be fine, thank you. Just less blankets, that's what I need."  
  
"Are you sure? I could ask the captain to get some cold compresses for you, and we'd fix that fever straight away."  
  
"I don't have a fever," she said firmly. "You may leave now, Thomas."  
  
Thomas obliged, vowing silently to return that evening. He did, and she was sprawled out in her bed, eyes unfocused and mouth half-open. "Miss Elanor?" he asked tentatively. She didn't even stir. He ran from the room to the library, where the captain was perusing a book of tales that inevitably contained the one of the Gold Flame. "Miss Elanor," he panted, gesturing to the door, "she's sick. Burnin' up and unconscious, I think. Yeh've got to do something, cap'n."  
  
The captain did not appreciate a cabin boy telling him what to do, nor did he think well of the way his lazy cabin boy seemed so concerned about his charge's condition. Nevertheless, he took a rag, dipped it in water, and followed Thomas down the passage to Elanor. She was most definitely sick. "Hold it just there, boy," he instructed Thomas, placing the rag on her forehead and rushing off to get the only doctor on board. Thomas kneeled there, waiting for the captain's return. At the touch of the cold water, Elanor closer her mouth and her eyes and lay, relaxed, on her bed. The doctor said there was nothing for it but bed rest and more of the wet rags. Thomas quickly said he'd do it, since she was his responsibility anyway. Captain Erif doubtfully agreed, thinking that now maybe Brian had some competition.  
  
Brian had noticed the doctor and Thomas going into the library going into the library more often than they had on the first few days of the journey, but he didn't think much of it. He went about his usual duties, which were mostly being on deck and occasionally sewing up ripped sails. He went in the library so often that the captain, the doctor, or Thomas had to shoo him out. He didn't much appreciate it when it was Thomas doing the shooing, but he grudgingly obeyed, thinking that he deserved to be left on Mirage Island until the next explorers stumbled upon it.  
  
His other duty was to find the bearings for Mirage Island. Mostly he had to solve riddles in books from the library to get vague relative locations. After gathering many of these, he presented his findings to Captain Erif, who was most impressed.  
  
"Good job, lad, these'll do us good in the long run. I'll ask Walters if he knows of a location that fits all these descriptions." Brian had met Walters, the navigator, a few times. "He'll probably be able to tell us exactly where to go, all thanks to you."  
  
This left Brian feeling immensely pleased. He went to stare out into the horizon, at the point where the sun would be setting that night. But then something caught his eye, at the very edge. "Captain!" he called loudly. Most of the crew looked up at him. "Captain Erif, something's approaching. Something-big."  
  
It was big, as ships go, but not as big as the Gold Flame. Still, it transformed from a speck on the horizon to a ship with high black sails, speeding toward them at a pace unmatched by any Brian had ever seen, and he had seen many speed away from the docks at Brookvul. "Captain, you know what ship that is, don't you?"  
  
"I hardly dare to believe it, lad. This is a nightmare."  
  
"I believe it, sir. I told you it was true. It's.it's the Black Pearl."  
  
And it was. At a long ways off, the giant ship with massive black sails began firing its cannons at the innocent Gold Flame. One of the sails got a huge hole in it. That's one I'll have to mend, Brian thought.  
  
Soon the ship was upon them. Men on ropes swung from the high-master Black Pearl to the chaos on the deck of the Gold Flame. "No," the captain was saying, backing up as a stout, menacing man with a thin beard advanced on him with a sword, "the Black Pearl isn't real! For God's sake, it isn't!"  
  
"Captain, that's a real hole in the sail! You've got to give orders!" Brian yelled as a man followed by a parrot and a woman with long, flowing black hair rushed at him, trying to corner him. He slipped away from them as he had tried to do with Captain Erif and Scaggs, so long ago it seemed, but only a few weeks had it been. He succeeded in the escape attempt this time, and dodged an old man with skin worn like leather.  
  
"Aye, Cap'n," said Scaggs as two men much like the one Brian had dodged held him down on the deck. "Give the orders, the crew will fight back!"  
  
"The Black Pearl isn't real!" John Erif kept saying. "It isn't real!"  
  
Another rope swung over the Gold Flame, with a man on the end of it. He certainly looked the part of a pirate. He had long black hair, some in braids, with beads hanging from it every so often. His clothes were tattered and worn, and his hat had a hole in it. He seemed like he was perpetually drunk, and never could keep his balance much. He swaggered over to the unfortunate rival captain and said, "Hello, mate."  
  
"No," Captain Erif breathed, hardly daring to believe it. "You're.you're not."  
  
"He is!" Brian cried. The woman, who pinned him against the edge of the ship, immediately stifled this.  
  
"Nice to meet you, mate," said the man. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, and we're commandeering this ship."  
  
"No, you're not," Brian yelled. The woman laid the edge of her sword almost on his cheek to keep him silent.  
  
"You aren't real, you know," Captain Erif said. "You're part of a fairy tale, you are. You can't commander this ship if you don't exist!"  
  
"Mate, didn't you see the lovely hole we blew in your sails? It's as real as you or me. You all can be my prisoners. Won't that be lovely?"  
  
"Shut up, Jack, and get to work," said the woman, not moving her sword from Brian's cheek. "This one struggles so, you'd think the ship was his and he was dying to protect it. Aye, lad?" she added, addressing Brian. He glared up at her and spit in her face. She shrieked and jumped back, allowing Brian to escape her grasp. "Catch him!" she shouted at all the idle pirates. Unfortunately, Erif's crew was much larger than that of the Black Pearl, so she was the only one running after the boy. She dropped her sword and followed him up the mast, where he perched on the crow's nest for only a moment. Then he grabbed the edge of the damaged sail and swung back down to the deck, picked up her sword, and waited. She came down too, and was immediately trapped with her own sword.  
  
"Nice form, lad," said Jack Sparrow's voice behind him. "But you've forgotten that you're not the only one on board with a weapon." And he struck him on the back of the head with the handle of his own sword. Brian fell over, unconscious.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
As soon as the pirate ship had blown a hole in the sail of the Gold Flame, Thomas had barricaded himself in the library and hurried through the passageway to Elanor's secret room. "Pirates," he gasped at her. She immediately sat upright. "Pirates are attacking the ship. It's the Black Pearl."  
  
"The Black Pearl? You mean with Captain Jack Sparrow?" Elanor said disbelievingly. Brian had told her the tale many, many times, but it had seemed amazing and funny from her bedroom balcony. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"  
  
"Brian Cochran says it is. It has black sails and everythin'," Thomas said. "Are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine," she breathed. "Is Brian all right?"  
  
From a distance, they heard screams and yells and swords clashing. Elanor uttered a little cry, and Thomas moved closer to her. She eyed him suspiciously and decided not to pursue the matter. "Thomas, what's going on? They're not taking over the ship, are they? I thought they were good pirates!"  
  
"Even in the story, Will Turner couldn't never tell what side Jack was on, remember? He ended up on 'is side, but that doesn' mean they're not pirates anymore. They raid and plunder. I believe it's in the definition, Miss Dayton."  
  
"We've got to do something, Thomas. We can't leave Brian and the crew out there to get killed!" Or this will all have been in vain, she told herself. If Brian was killed, there wasn't any point for this mission to even have started.  
  
"We can' do nothin', Miss Dayton. We've just got to wait. Wait," he repeated. His voice echoed all around the secret chamber, sending chills down Elanor's spine as she waited. 


	6. Chapter 6

~Chapter 6~  
  
Brian woke up in a dank, cold prison cell. For a minute he wondered what had happened, and then he remembered the high, dark sails of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow's face, the woman's sword, and a pain on the back of his head, which still lingered. Brian realized that he was standing upright, and then he saw that he was chained to the wall with manacles that seemed to fit him perfectly. No matter how hard he pulled, they would not come loose. He didn't even stop struggling when footsteps approached and stopped right in front of his cell.  
  
"Not too fond of the brig, eh, lad?" said Jack Sparrow.  
  
"Not.much." Brian retorted, pulling on the chains. "You bloody pirate, what do you want with us anyway?"  
  
"I want your ship, lad. Isn't it obvious? I'm a pirate." He pronounced the last word carefully, as if talking to a four-year-old. "I raid and loot and plunder and steal. I could supply you with a definition, if you'd like."  
  
"I'll pass," Brian spat. This man was pure dirt. Brian pulled again, but to no avail. "Let me out of this now, Sparrow."  
  
"That'll be Captain Sparrow to you, lad. And I won't be letting you off that easy just yet. Now don't pull on it too much or the wall will collapse on you, and neither of us want that to happen, savvy?"  
  
"Where are Captain Erif and the rest of the crew? Scaggs? Twigs? Walters? Thomas?"  
  
"Thomas?" the pirate captain repeated, scrunching up his nose. "There wasn't no Thomas aboard the ship, mate. If there was he dove off."  
  
"Deserves him right then, but I can't see him doing that. He's here, I know it. Your pirate crew must not be doing so well if you can't even capture everybody on board."  
  
"You're just upset, mate, because we got you. If your little friend Thomas escaped, it won't be that way for long. I'm captain of this ship now, with Anamaria and Gibbs on the Black Pearl. I have the makings of me own fleet, I do. And you can be my cabin boy."  
  
"I'll do no such thing, Sparrow."  
  
"Captain-"  
  
"Let me out of this bloody prison right now, or when I do get out my sole purpose in life will be to kill you!"  
  
Sparrow stopped, trying to refocus his eyes. "Kill me, mate? I'm Captain Jack Spar-" And he fell forward onto his face. Behind him stood Scaggs, with the incapacitated captain's own sword and a mangled bit of rope.  
  
"Scaggs!" Brian cried joyfully.  
  
"Not too loud, lad, yeh'll rouse the rest of them pirates. Quietly, now." And the first mate of the Gold Flame led Brian past the unconscious madman and out of the brig. The rest of the crew was free, but the rest of the pirates were still on guard. On Scaggs's command, the crew attacked. Within a few minutes, the pirates were bound and gagged, struggling on the ground.  
  
"I'll have to use force with that one," Captain Erif said, motioning to the pirate at the helm. He snuck up behind him and held a pistol to his head. "Steer clear of that bloody black ship or I'll be able to see straight through this thick skull of yours."  
  
Brian looked on, feeling anxious. Captain Erif wasn't going to kill the man, was he? The pirate fervently steered farther and farther away from the Black Pearl. From across the way, Brian saw the woman's head snap toward them as they inched away. "Load the cannons!" she cried, her voice carried to the Gold Flame on the wind.  
  
"Captain, they're getting ready to shoot," Brian said, rushing up to the captain. "What do we do?"  
  
"We do nothing. We stand our ground."  
  
"Or our water, whichever way yeh like it," said Twigs, coming up behind them.  
  
"Load our own cannons. Issue the orders, lad."  
  
Brian sped off. "Load the cannons! Orders from the captain! Load the cannons!" There was general pandemonium as the crew scurried about, looking for cannonballs and running into each other. "Load the cannons!"  
  
"Be on the ready!" Captain Erif roared at the crew who were down below, waiting to fire the cannons. A cannonball hit the Gold Flame in the side. "Fire!" yelled Captain Erif.  
  
As a dozen cannonballs burst from their cannons, Jack Sparrow swaggered on board. "What are you doing, mate?" he yelled at the rival captain.  
  
"We're firing on the Black Pearl, pirate," Captain Erif spat.  
  
"Quit blowing holes in my ship!" Jack Sparrow yelled, tackling the unfortunate captain to the ground. They struggled for a moment before Scaggs jumped in and pinned Jack to the deck, just as Anamaria had done to Brian. "Yeh've got to let me go, mate, or I'll scuttle this ship faster than you can say 'pirate,'"  
  
"You can' scuttle this ship. You'd be dead before yeh did the deed," Scaggs threatened menacingly.  
  
"Ropes!" yelled Twigs, ducking as the stout man swung over his head.  
  
"Gibbs, mate, thought you'd never make it," Sparrow said gratefully.  
  
"Stay away, pirate," said Captain Erif. "You don't know what you're dealing with, messing with me and my crew. We have nothing you'd want."  
  
"Aye, except the most luxurious ship in the Caribbean, according to the rumors floating around out here on the ocean," said Sparrow, earning himself a jab from Scaggs's pistol.  
  
"And the bearings to your namesake, from what your crew told me," said Gibbs.  
  
"Crew? Which crew?" Erif turned and bellowed at the crew. "Who told the dirty pirates? Step up before I shoot each and every one of you and make you our food supply."  
  
"It was him," said Gibbs, pointing. "And his four friends. They told us of every single detail of your little escapade."  
  
The rest of the crew backed away, leaving the five burly crew members Brian had always felt dubious about standing in a half-circle all by themselves. Captain Erif strode over to them, undoubtedly to tell them off, but Scaggs got there first. "You traitors!" he yelled, drawing his sword. The leader, who Brian supposed was Thomas's father, followed suit.  
  
"Scaggs! This really isn't the time-"  
  
"Ah, but I think it is, mate."  
  
Captain Erif turned and found the tip of another sword pointing at the bridge of his nose. Jack Sparrow was standing before him, smirking as if he had already won. Captain Erif retreated and drew his own sword, as did Gibbs, who proceeded to release his fellow pirates out of their bondage. In all the confusion as swords flew and glinted in the harsh sunlight, Brian slipped unnoticed into the library.  
  
To his surprise, he found Thomas. "What are you doing here?" he said accusingly, drawing his short blade that the captain had given him on instinct.  
  
"I think the better question is, what're you doin' here?"  
  
"I'm escaping from those bloody pirates. Your father sold us all out!"  
  
"Not all of us, mate. You, maybe. Yer beloved captain and his first mate, maybe. But I'm sailin' away on the Black Pearl tonight, mate, with me father and his friends."  
  
Brian saw it now. Thomas, his father, and his friends had been planning this from the beginning. "You are a traitor," he said quietly, gritting his teeth. "You've known we were going to get attacked by pirates, didn't you? Didn't you?"  
  
"Aye, mate. Glad yeh figured it out so soon. Also glad I didn't come in here without this." He extracted a pistol from the folds in his tattered shirts. Brian considered stabbing the boy who had betrayed them all, along with his father, but that would be risking too much. Thomas could shoot him before he died, and then they'd both be dead. As if in a dream, he heard a familiar voice call out, "Where's the lad?" and open the door. Jack Sparrow stood framed in the doorway. "Tom, lad, what're you doing?" he yelled, diving for the scrawny pirate lad. Before Thomas hit the ground, he let a bullet fly from the pistol he still held in his right hand. It hit Brian in the side. The pain was horrific and it wouldn't end. Brian slid to the ground for the second time that day, and possibly for the last.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Thomas had just left Elanor for a couple minutes when she heard a gunshot. Not even thinking about what the consequences might be, Elanor leapt out of bed and shot through the secret tunnel. If it was Captain Erif, and he died, she would be thrown off or given as a peace offering to those pirates. If it was Brian-Elanor kept on running.  
  
Throwing open the carefully hidden doorway, Elanor hit something that was trying to stand. It was Thomas, and he was sent sprawling on his stomach again. She ignored him and instead rushed to the pale figure on the floor. "Brian! Brian! Answer me!" The blood was seeping through a hole in his shirt and staining the wooden floor. "Wake up," she said, tears forming in her eyes. "Wake up."  
  
"I don't think he'll wake, lassie, not for a while yet anyway," said a voice behind her. Elanor turned and screamed. "Not to worry, lassie, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl, and you are-?"  
  
"Why won't he wake?" she asked, blinking hard. She was not going to cry in front of Brian's murderer.  
  
"Because he's shot, lass."  
  
"I realized that," she retorted. "Why did you shoot him?"  
  
"Me? Who said I shot him? It was this one, here, the backstabbing traitor." He jerked a thumb at Thomas, who was again attempting to get to his feet. "I agreed with him and his dad in Tortuga that there wouldn't be any injuries, unless completely necessary. Ain't that right, lad?"  
  
"It was necessary," Thomas said, not looking at Elanor, but instead locking eyes with Jack Sparrow. "He drew a sword on me."  
  
"I saw you, boy, you were ready to kill him, regardless of our agreement. A fine pirate you'd make, mate, but not a good man. You'll be hanged by your enemies someday, you will, boy."  
  
Captain Erif, followed by Scaggs, Twigs, Gibbs, and the five surly men, entered the library. "Who shot? Who was shot?" Gibbs demanded, looking around at Brian. "The lad! Who did it? Was it you, Jack?"  
  
"Nay, Gibbs, not me, that little worm over there. Your son, sir," he said, addressing the leader of the traitors.  
  
"So what if he did? Can any of you prove it?" the man said.  
  
"I saw it," Jack said. "Your son, sir, is a miserable little rat!"  
  
The man didn't seem to know how to take this. He drew his sword, his rage going unchecked. Sparrow drew his own sword as well. Captain Erif grabbed Elanor by the shoulders and pulled her to a corner. "You've broken our agreement, you have."  
  
"No, I haven't. He never saw me. He was." She couldn't bring herself to say dead. ".like that when I got here. So our bargain stands."  
  
"True, lass. But will he ever have the chance to see you again?" The captain moved over to the pale storyteller and put his hand over his mouth. "He's breathing. It's shallow, but it's coming. Our doctor can't do much for him; we've got to get to the nearest port city as quickly as possible. I don't know which one it is, though."  
  
Nearby, Jack and the man were locked in a stalemate of a swordfight. Slowly, the balance began to tip to favor Jack, but soon the man was breathing a pungent stench in Sparrow's face while Jack was on his back, his breath almost as shallow as Brian's. "So you're going to kill me?" Jack choked. "Just my last great adventure. But you, sir, you're going to have to live with the fact that you killed the legendary Jack Sparrow, almost as fantastical as the Gold Flame itself. What exactly did you plan to do once the Black Pearl caught up with your ship?"  
  
"I planned to hold you and the other captain prisoner, along with the rest of the crew, and take these ships with Walters's bearings to claim the Gold Flame for meself. Then I would've disposed of you." He grinned maliciously, and Jack counted four gold teeth.  
  
"But what are you going to do now? You kill me and my crew will have you in chains before you can say 'rum.' Aye, mate?"  
  
"Aye, Jack," Gibbs responded.  
  
The man considered this, which for Elanor seemed to take a long time. "I'll let you live. For now. You, girl, where did yeh come from?"  
  
Elanor's eyes widened, and she looked pleadingly up at Captain Erif. "Me and the lass have a bargain that the boy is never to see her," he said. "You can understand a verbal contract, can't you?"  
  
"He's a backstabbing traitor, mate. What about that don't you understand?" Sparrow said.  
  
"Aye, a verbal contract. But she won' see him if she's at the bottom of the ocean, now, will she?"  
  
Elanor's breath caught in her throat, and John Erif stepped in front of her. "You'll have to throw me over, too."  
  
"I believe that can be arranged."  
  
Elanor shook her head vigorously. "No, they need you. You can't be thrown off. There's still time to get rid of these mutineers before you reach Mirage Island or the nearest port city."  
  
"The nearest port city?" Jack Sparrow repeated, looking around. "Why, that's Port Royal! I haven't been there for nigh on ten years! No one would give me a warm welcome, see, and." He trailed off as the man poked him with the handle of his sword.  
  
"Out. Out of this library, every one of yeh!" the man ordered. "Except the dead one." They grudgingly obliged, each thinking of any way to regain control of the ship. Once outside, they squinted for a moment in the bright sunlight before a woman's voice sounded.  
  
"You fools! Get them!"  
  
It was Anamaria, flying through the air on a rope from the Black Pearl. With one swift movement, she hit Thomas's father on the back of the head with her pistol, and he fell, hanging precariously over the edge of the ship. Elanor thought that one quick push would be enough to knock him into the ocean before the four others and Thomas advanced on her and Captain Erif. Gibbs stuck one in the leg with his sword and another he threw a punch at, which landed squarely on the man's jaw. Twigs reached for the nearest man's foot and sent him sprawling on the ground, dazed. He quickly tied him up.  
  
All that was left was Thomas and one more man. That one shoved Captain Erif out of the way and held his pistol to Elanor's head. "Not one move or the lass gets it," he warned.  
  
By now the whole crew of both ships had gathered. No one wanted Elanor to be shot, even if they had no idea who she was. "You lowly, stinking, cowardly pirate scum," Captain Erif spat. "Threatening a lady, and a child at that. This is low."  
  
"Don't do it, Bill!" Thomas cried suddenly. "Don't you dare shoot her!"  
  
"What business is this of yers? If yeh hadn't shot the whelp, we would've taken control over both ships by now, yeh miniature fool!"  
  
"You shoot her and I'll shoot you," Thomas warned, drawing his pistol again.  
  
"Aye, but she'll still be dead, now, won't she? Take yer pick carefully now, lad. Yeh want her dead or be dead with her?"  
  
Thomas stepped forward. There was a sound of a gunshot and a bloodcurdling scream. 


	7. Chapter 7

~Chapter 7~  
  
Surprisingly, the man's gun wasn't smoking. Thomas's was.  
  
"Or maybe you'll be dead," he said.  
  
The man keeled over backwards. Elanor rushed away from him, the back of her torn dress completely stained with blood that had leaked from the man's neck. Both captains hurried to him. Sparrow dropped to one knee.  
  
"He's dead, the traitor. What'll we do with him?"  
  
"The dead can't move, Jack," said Anamaria. "I'd bind the ones that aren't as bad off as that one. Take the young one, too."  
  
"Why? I tried to save her!" Thomas protested as six pairs of hands closed in upon him. "I tried to save her!"  
  
"But you shot my storyteller, boy," Captain Erif said. "For that, you get cast in this lot of backstabbers."  
  
"The lad," Gibbs breathed. "To Port Royal at once! We've got to get the lad to Port Royal for some real medical treatment."  
  
"We can't go rushing off to the scourge of pirates in the Caribbean, mate," said Sparrow. "They'd hang us all."  
  
"It's to save a life, pirate. Or can't you comprehend that?"  
  
"They're bloody pirates," Twigs piped up, dragging one of the unconscious men away to the brig. "They don' understand nothin'."  
  
"I understand it, I do, but I just don't understand why yeh'd want to kill me!"  
  
Captain Erif gave him a withering look, followed by a sharp pain on his toe. "Because you schemed with my own crew members to commandeer my ship and you are a pirate."  
  
"A famous pirate," Jack said.  
  
"Pirate scum," Captain Erif raged. "If they hang you, there will be one less pirate captain soiling the seas."  
  
Elanor couldn't take it anymore. She stepped forward. "Please, just set course for Port Royal. He can't die. And you, you pirate captain; don't think he's going because he wants to see you hanged. My father thinks he's a pirate, too, and he'll have spread the word all across the coast by now. You leave Brian out here on this ship to die and I will see to it that you are hanged."  
  
"She's right. I've unjustly been thrown into your field, pirate. Get some of your crew on that boat you call the Pearl and we'll do all we can for the lad here."  
  
"Why shouldn't we just peel off now?" Sparrow said, circling him. "You can take the lad to Port Royal by yourselves."  
  
"And you don't want to deal with these mutineers?"  
  
The lust of revenge was too strong for the swaggering captain to pass up. "All right, fine. We'll sail on to Port Royal. In the meantime, have your doctor do whatever he can for the lad, savvy? Anamaria, Gibbs, Cotton, and Patchy, follow me to the Black Pearl!"  
  
The doctor swept through the crowd into the library, followed closely by Elanor, Captain Erif, and Scaggs. "He's lost too much blood," the doctor said, even before kneeling to examine the boy. "See his face? He's deathly pale."  
  
"Don't say death," Elanor pleaded in a hushed voice.  
  
"If we get him to Port Royal before nightfall, he might have a chance. A slim chance, but still a chance. He could be coming to soon, but it'll all be foggy to him."  
  
"Thank you, Dr. Tiller," said Captain Erif. He strode out and yelled, "Set course for Port Royal! Walters, Twigs, at the helm, if you please!"  
  
Brian stirred. He groaned slightly, and then he opened his eyes. For a moment, he looked straight into Elanor's face, and then he groaned and closed them again.  
  
"Out, young missy," Scaggs said, ushering Elanor toward the exit. "Remember your bargain with the captain. Go wait outside until we move him to his room."  
  
Elanor went outside and leaned over the edge, looking at the horizon. Nightfall wasn't that far away; just how far were they from Port Royal? They just had to make it, or else Brian would be dead. Thomas was a traitor, a backstabbing murderer, the filth. She would never, ever speak to him again, ever, especially now that she was over her fever and seasickness. She had no more use for him and hoped that everyone would forget about him so he could rot away in the brig.  
  
Inside the library, Dr. Tiller was feeling Brian's weak heartbeat when he came to. "Dr.. Dr. Tiller? Scaggs?"  
  
"Aye, lad, how're yeh feelin'?" asked Scaggs.  
  
"Not so good. I thought I saw Elanor's face." And he winced as the pain overtook him again. He instinctively brought his hands to his side, where the bullet had gone in deep.  
  
"No, son, you can't do that. It'll only make it worse. I don't have the tools with me to extract bullets. You'll just have to wait until we make it to Port Royal." The doctor looked up at Scaggs. "If we make it to Port Royal."  
  
"Mustn't think such thoughts, doctor," the first mate growled.  
  
For the next few hours, the doctor and Scaggs looked over Brian and Elanor stood leaning over the edge of the ship, wondering if fate was going to cut Brian's life short. She wouldn't be able to stand it. She wouldn't even have the strength of will to have Jack Sparrow hanged. Brian had to heal. He just had to.  
  
Someone laid a comforting hand on her back. She looked around to see Captain Jack Sparrow. "How'd you get here?" she asked, shrugging his hand off. "I thought you were on the Black Pearl."  
  
"It's called ropes, lass," he said, taking his place next to her and staring at the horizon also. "I just wanted to know how you were taking it. I can see you two were great friends."  
  
"Not the best," Elanor admitted, and it felt like she was admitting it to herself too. "We fought a lot, especially when I stowed away on board." This was humiliating to admit to a dirty pirate that she had stowed away on such a grand ship, but she would never disclose the reason why.  
  
"A stowaway! Good for you, lass. I stowed away, too, once, when I was thirteen. It was on the loveliest ship of its time: the White Maiden. Didn't turn out too well, though. They found me and made me walk the plank. I swam until I felt my breaths wouldn't come any longer. It was my first visit to Tortuga, see." He drew a long breath. "Not the place for a lass like you, just like Port Royal is no place for a pirate like me."  
  
"Why is that?" Elanor asked. Her anger had dissipated enough to allow her to think clearly. She wanted to be distracted from the real matter at hand: Brian's almost certain death.  
  
"That's the place I nearly got hanged once. An old friend helped me out." Jack sighed. "I haven't seen him since that day. I wonder how he's doing? He fell in love with a beautiful maiden, such as yourself, and I'm supposing they got married. Maybe they have children. Maybe not. Who knows? And Norrington, he's-"  
  
"I've heard of him! He's in the stories they tell about you."  
  
"Really? They tell stories?" And Jack seemed genuinely interested to hear of his own escapades.  
  
"Yes, they do. I've been hearing them since I was little: the tale of Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and the Black Pearl. They tell of how you saved Elizabeth Swann, the governor's daughter, and then you escaped from a crowd of people, which included Norrington and Elizabeth's father, the governor. Then you hid in the smithy, where you had to swordfight with Will Turner, and he captured you. That night, there was a raid on Port Royal, and the pirates of the Black Pearl took Elizabeth Swann. The next morning Will sprung you out of jail so you could go save her from the cursed pirates, who turned to skeletons in the moonlight because of a chest of cursed gold. They thought she was the daughter of one of their fellow pirates, Bootstrap Bill Turner, and they needed her to undo the curse. You and Will took control of a ship in the harbor and sailed off to her rescue, and lots and lots of other things, such as your former first mate Barbossa, who you eventually killed with the last shot from your pistol. And you were to be hanged, but Will saved you, and they let you get away when you dove off the wall. After that, Elizabeth and Will got married and lived happily ever after, just like in all fairy tales."  
  
He chuckled. "They got most of the details correct. But do you really think it a fairy tale, lass." It wasn't a question; it was more of a statement. He thought about something for a few minutes, and then he said, "Lass, you keep strong during this ordeal with your friend. We'll take him to Will's. He'll know what to do with him. A blacksmith he might be, and not the sharpest tool in the shed, if you'll mind the pun, but he comes through when someone needs him." He sat on a barrel and kicked his feet up. "We're coming back, Will. Jack Sparrow's coming back." 


End file.
